Good or bad use of __repr__?

[Alaric Haag]

Hello,

Is the use of __repr__ below a "really bad idea"? 

class Dimension():
    def __init__(self, setp, name):
        ptr = setp.contents.dim
        while ptr.contents.name != name:
            ptr = ptr.contents.next
        self.name = ptr.contents.name
        self.size = ptr.contents.size
        self.unlimited = bool(ptr.contents.unlimited)
        self.coord = ptr.contents.coord
    def __repr__(self):
        return '%g' % (self.size)

As written, if a program references a Dimension instance without an 
attribute, it gets the size attrbute "by default". If it wants the other 
attributes, they have to be spec'd. In the context of the code being 
developed, the "size" attribute is the "logical" representation of the 
dimension. I'm just wondering if this sort of design should be avoided.

Many thanks!

Alaric